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So now there’s no StarOffice port for OS X? Not so fast…

You probably recall Ars posting a CNET story a few days ago in which Sun's head of PR for Star Office, Tony Siress, was extensively quoted on the subject of Sun's and Apple's cooperation on a port of Star Office to OS X. The article was based on a an interview with Siress by CNET reporter Joe Wilcox, and the quotes in it seemed to clearly and unambigously outline a plan by both Sun and Apple to move the porting process forward by having developers from both companies working on the Star Office code base. The plan even included projected timeframes for certain milestones, and specifics about which Sun offices were involved in certain parts of the port. It all seemed perfectly plausible in light of recent MS-Apple tensions, if a bit surprising.

The CNET article created a hubub for a couple of reasons, and shortly after it was published Sun set about trying its best to retract its representative's statements regarding the StarOffice OS X port through a series of conference calls and statements to media sources other than CNET. The problem is that the cat is out of the bag, and like it or not it ain't going back in. Read on for the scoop on why the recent flurry of articles claiming that the CNET story got it all wrong are themselves in error.